Ska'drin Celebration Update Notes

[h2]Ska’Drin Celebration Event Pass[/h2]
For our final Event Pass of this year, we've commissioned community artists for our 2D cosmetics as well as created 5 recolors in the Event Pass that bring some Limited Skins forward with new looks!

• Makilla Makoa (Volcanic)
  
• Shaman Grohk (Chieftan)
  
• Exhortation Fernando (Ultimatum)
  
• Infernal Lord Drogoz (Abyssal Lord)
  
• Coastline Cony Rei (Beach Bunny)
  

In addition to these skins, there is another recolor of Volcanic Makoa available for Direct Purchase, called Shikoa! In total, there are 6 new skins players can get their hands on right away as a present from us to the community!
As for the 2D cosmetics, there are 6 in total you can earn as part of Ska'drin celebration from 4 different artists from the community!
[h2]Into the Cosmos Spray by Paulo Munir[/h2]

[h2]Rallying Cry, Stoic Shield, and Lifting Off by DanTheBros[/h2]

[h2]Stary Stare by Sailie[/h2]

[h2]Tigron's Might by PangoBoy[/h2]

[h2]Merry Mayhem Returns![/h2]
The Ska’Drin aren’t the only ones celebrating! Merry Mayhem returns as a Special questline for the holidays, allowing players to earn some exclusive rewards as well as Chests and Gold. Here’s the order of things you’ll be asked to complete and the rewards:

• Play 1 Match
  • “Happy Holidays!” Title
• Capture 2 Siege Objectives
  • 750 Gold
• Deal 50,000 Damage in A Match
  • 750 Gold
• Play 3 Arcade Matches
  • 1500 Gold
• Heal for 30,000 Health in A Match
  • 2500 Gold
• Win 2 Matches
  • 50 Crystals
• Earn 20,000 Credits
  • Flair & Style Chest
• Earn 100 Eliminations
  • Golden Cache
• Play 25 Matches
  • Festive Presents Chest
• [REDACTED]
  • Limited “has saved Realm-mas!” Title

Across the game, we’ve added highlights and callouts to various effects and unified how we describe them across all Champions. There are a few new examples as well as changes to existing effects:

• Zhin’s new version of Yomi (spoilers) uses the word Ignite instead of Burn. This is to indicate that the flames he attaches to a target deal no damage & instead act as a damage amp for him.
  
• Displacement effects have been broken up into the following subcategories: Knockback, Knockup, Push, Pull, and Lift. Knock and Push effects are currently countered by Sentinel and Pull and Lift effects by Unbound.
  
• Older instances of phrases that mean the same as an Effect have been replaced by that Effect (e.g “reduces Movement Speed” have been replaced with Slows) for clarity.
  

Crowd Control is a very core part of the Paladins experience, from fueling part of the ability loop to a major frustration point as the tension of between the amount and severity of CC effects evolved over time. This is the first step in a series of changes we hope to make to communicate Crowd Control more clearly, eventually with the goal of updating and improving Crowd Control to be both more robust and less frustrating. This starts with calling out similar effects that players can reliably expect to behave the same and also highlighting specific effects that can act differently based on context. Generic highlights have been given to widespread effects, with certain more niche effects having unique tags. (e.g. Rei’s Spirit Link)

Our vision moving forward is a more dynamic way to interact with these effects beyond the Items currently used to counter them, like Ignite and Burn having interplay where teams can combine them for unique effects, or Allies can stack things like Linked and other defensive buffs to shutdown less-coordinated pushes. Stay tuned for more on this front in Year 8!

[h2]Siege[/h2]

• When looking for a match, casual Siege will now prioritize matching parties of 3 or less with each other. Parties of 4 or 5 will be prioritized towards other larger parties. After a significant time in the queue, this restriction will be dropped.

After testing what this would look like within Onslaught and Arcade, we are now expanding this out to casual Siege to see if it aids issues around party matchmaking and helps prevent unfair matches!

[h2]Limited Time Modes[/h2]
[h3]New[/h3]
TDM Roulette

• Draft your team carefully in this Gun Game-inspired Throne TDM! Everytime you die, randomly swap to another Champion on your team and quickly adapt to overcome your opponents!
  

[h3]Updated[/h3]
Truly Talented
Champions

• Added Atlas to the Champion Pool.
  • Flashback Fissure: Activating Second Chance leaves behind an unstable fissure that explodes after 3s, dealing 1,000 damage.
• Removed Yagorath from the Champion Pool.

Game Rules

• Starting Credits decreased from 500 ➡️ 400
  
• Credit earn rate from the Objective has been reduced from 4 ➡️ 2
  

Map List

• Replaced certain maps with their Classic variations
  • Stone Keep
    
  • Warder’s Gate
    
  • Timber Mill
• Removed certain maps released or reworked after Season 2
  • Frozen Guard
    
  • Dawnforge

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where certain Talents were not available for players to select, softlocking them.

Truly Talented is receiving yet another sandbox update, this time focused on shifting the LTM from simply about Talents to a different speed of play. As the notes may suggest, we’re pushing this mode to fulfill what many players felt when they initially played it: nostalgia for a prior version of Paladins. Instead of being about emulating exactly what Season 2 was like, Truly Talented provides a heightened version of gameplay that hits that same feeling of basic kits with deeper customization. Initial Credits as well as earn rate are reduced to lean into power plays and thoughtful Item purchasing, and Yagroath has been removed for Atlas to have the roster match the era we’re aiming for. Maps have also been adjusted to reflect this direction while keeping ones players love!

[h2]General[/h2]
[h3]Damage Types[/h3]

• Refactored various weapons & abilities to properly use the correct damage type between Direct & Area.
  
• Added new callouts on various effects to note when they swap damage type due to Talent selection.
  • Example: Ash’s Slug Shot Talent now informs players it swaps her weapon from Area to Direct damage.
  
• Moved a select number of abilities from one type to another to accommodate new consistency guidelines.
  • Example: Azaan’s Conviction now is classified as Area, Lian’s Valor is now classified as Direct. Our guideline on abilities that hit multiple targets is whether it deals the damage in a single fire (e.g. dashes, Piercing) or if it’s firing multiple smaller attacks for each person (e.g. Valor, shotguns)
    

When we originally removed Blast Shields, we stated consistency in the Direct & Area systems as our biggest concern. Behind the scenes, we had a lot of abilities that were not categorized at all, under the wrong umbrella, or hybrid damage types on one ability that made readability difficult for the average player. This system was left behind as well, with newer Champions either ignoring or breaking previous conventions due to irrelevancy to the end user. Revisiting this system allowed us to re-conceptualize the divide and do a pass over all the abilities to create new guidelines to make things more predictable and learnable for players as well as easier for us as developers to upkeep. Obviously, these changes mean very little unless…

[h2]Items[/h2]
[h3]Returning Item: Blast Shields[/h3]

• Reduce your damage taken from Area of Effect attacks by 6|6%.
  
• Costs 300|300 Credits, replaces Arcane Warding.

[h3]Returning Item: Haven[/h3]

• Reduce your damage taken from Direct attacks by 6|6%.
  
• Costs 300|300 Credits, replaces Armor Plating.

The legendary pair return! Haven and Blast Shields both are being brought back and will be able to interact with the expanded Item Store for the first time, allowing for a mix of classic and brand-new builds. Our goal with the reintroduction of the Direct/Area damage system is to offer Champions and loadouts that have lost relevancy since its removal to shine in certain compositions once more (e.g. blasters, damage type swap Talents), as well as reduce the overall amount of effective DR closer to what players were used to in S2/early S3. We expect this change to initially make the overall TTK a bit quicker, but as players adapt and learn it should level out closer to current feels.

[h3]Hoard[/h3]

• Gain 5|5 ➡️ 7|7 Credits on getting an Elimination.
  
• Now transforms at Level 3 to instead provide 10% Movement, Mount, Cooldown, and Ultimate Charge speed.
  
• Cost increased from 150|300|600 ➡️ 200|400|1750 Credits.
  

Since its release in 7.1, Hoard has been topic of debate amongst the community. Late game value vs. early game efficiency in a hectic match of Paladins was the original design goal and we felt it hit the mark for the experiment - at first. Once the dust settled the item became much more binary, only really seeing play in the most greedy of builds. This was partially due to the fact that the Item had no payoff, the trade-off of increasing your economy for a dead item slot became too much for most players and Hoard soon fell off the radar for most Champions. With all that said, we’ve given Hoard a bit of an overhaul. Now at max level - which you’ll notice is much more expensive than anything else in the store - Hoard replaces its economy effect with a powerful 10% strength version of all other yellow Items. While the original design heavily valued the dead item slot as part of the trade off, this new version places value in Hoard as a late game item. A gamble to see if you can prolong the game long enough to really ramp up your stats vs other more traditional end-game builds. It still technically has the same trade-off as before, but now rewards making the commitment for sticking through the game as a hoarder instead of punishing you.

[h3]Nimble[/h3]

• Increased scaling from 7|14|21% to 10|20|30%

In the spirit of popular community requests and leaning into our past, Nimble is also seeing its value brought back up to where it was in the early days of Paladins, but without a price increase. Enjoy the slightly faster pace of play!

[h2]Cards[/h2]

• Various cards that were equivalent to raw damage amplification have been reworked.
  • Betty La Bomba’s Ride the Rocket
    
  • Kasumi’s Essence Drain and Deadly Traps
    
  • Nyx’s Center of Combat
    
  • Omen’s More More More and Void Choke
• Select Champions are receiving focused shifts between their base kit and Cards to rebalance where their strengths come from.
  • Saati
    
  • Rei

Over the years, the design philosophy behind Cards has shifted and evolved alongside the system itself. After our recent efforts on modernize and standardizing other systems has proven fruitful, we’ve been turning our eyes towards more Card reworks and adjustments to slowly shorten the gap between various Champion’s loadouts and improve the overall interest in Cards for both new and experienced players. These changes are first steps into future adjustments spurred by the pain points modern Champions have had with damage amplification Cards as well as Card designs and scaling that didn’t hold up to older Champion options. Over the next several updates, we’ll continue to take a look at specific types of Cards or specific Champions that could see their options improved to fall into our new standards and expectations across the roster.

[h2]Champions[/h2]
[h3]Barik[/h3]
Talents

• Forgefire
  • Increased single turret damage from 350 ➡️ 400
    
  • Increased double turret, single target damage from 450 ➡️ 666
    
  • Increased range from 22 ➡️ 30 units
    
  • Now is Barik’s Level 8 Talent
• Fortify
  • Now is Barik’s Level 1 Talent

Barik has been struggling slightly the latter half of this year, mainly as the meta shifts around him yet he sits static with some key QoL issues. While this is not as comprehensive as we’d like to give him, it’s a very popular community request to swap these Talent unlocks, and it will push him into a better spot for us to assess the next areas we can tighten up his gameplay loop. Forgefire hasn’t been feeling quite as impactful as we’d like, so we’re also giving it some targeted buffs to up the threat level of his mini–Flame Turrets to add some risk if they are ignored. We’ll continue to keep an eye on his performance into the new year!

[h3]Betty La Bomba[/h3]
Ultimate

• Long Live the Queen
  • Now provides CC Immunity during windup
    
  • Once Betty dismounts, the Rockets speed increases from 80 units/s ➡️ 100 units/s

Cards

• Ride the Rocket
  • Reworked to “Increase the projectile speed of Cluster Bomb by 6|6%”

Betty’s Ultimate has often felt underwhelming compared to her other bombastic peer, and her flight struggles compared to someone like Drogoz due to her windup being so vulnerable. We’ve decided to give her immunity the second she hits her Ultimate so she can try and get the Rocket out before taking lethal damage, as well as having it fly faster after she jumps off to encourage her to use it a bit different than the King himself. Ride the Rocket was also one of the stranger damage amplification cards, which we have reworked to give a beloved older effect to this newer blaster. She also will benefit quite a bit from the return of Haven & Blast Shields if teams do not Itemize around her, so watch out for the Queen!

[h3]Bomb King[/h3]
Talent

• Accelerant
  • Now also deals 200% bonus damage to Shields

[h3]Evie[/h3]
Talents

• Snow Globe
  • Decreases Slow on Ice Storm from 60% ➡️ 30%

Cards

• Cold Acclimation
  • Reworked to “While within your Ice Storm, Heal for 32|32 every 1s and gain 10|10% Movement Speed. The Movement Speed lingers for 3s after leaving Ice Storm.”

Snow Globe had some oppressive matchups when fighting Evie - constantly getting bombarded by her powerful CC led to incredibly lopsided matches. We’ve reduced the strength of the Slow on these mini-versions to allow more opportunity for escape. On another Ultimate note - Cold Acclimation as a Card quite literally never saw play, so we’ve taken a big swing at it and made something entirely new. Cold Acclimation facilitates aggressive play within your Ultimate and gives Evie that extra little bit of survivability to outlast a big team fight.

[h3]Grover[/h3]
Cards

• Chopper
  • Increased scaling from 50|50 to 100|100

[h3]Io[/h3]
Ultimate

• Begone
  • No longer explodes on walls, instead will continue along wall after dropping targets on collision for a few seconds.

It was incredibly frustrating as Io to launch your Ultimate and have it instantly detonate on errant collision. Begone frustration! Now Io’s Ultimate travels along the surface it hits, leading to sneaky shots that can send people flying and generally more successful Io Ultimates.

[h3]Kasumi[/h3]
Weapon

• Yokai Doll
  • Adjusted targetter to be more precise, allowing aim control in scenarios with multiple targets.
    
  • Decreased effective range from 100 ➡️ 80 units
    
  • Increased max range from 100 ➡️ 120 units
    
  • Reduced overall cone size from 6 ➡️ 1
    • Against most Characters, Kasumi will be required to aim within 1 unit of their body. She’ll maintain a level of forgiveness in close quarters, but at range will ask more to land blows.

Talents

• Haunted Ground
  • Decreased cooldown after activation from 8s ➡️ 6s.

Cards

• Deadly Traps
  • Reworked to “Increase the duration of Spirit Trap's Crowd Control effects by {0.2|0.2}s.”
• Essence Drain
  • Reworked to “Increase your Movement Speed by {6|6}% for 3s after using Savage Tear.”

Kasumi has been in a much stronger spot since our last set of changes, but there are still lingering issues on both sides of her duels. We're continuing our work on Yokai Doll's behavior, now adjusting the cone at multiple levels to function a bit closer to a hitscan weapon. Kasumi will now have to be much more precise (within a Cassie arrow of her target) as well as have more control on who she is aiming at when enemies are bunched together. This in conjunction with the addition of damage falloff will preserve a bit of her special targeting while not feeling too out of place in a shooter-centric environment. We've also adjusted a few of her Cards to no longer affect the damage output of her abilities but still offer helpful buffs, including rolling old functionality into Haunted Ground! Overall, we think these changes will make Kasumi more consistent and enjoyable but we'll continue to look at feedback on her!

[h3]Lex[/h3]
Weapon

• Magnums
  • Reduced camera shake while firing by 65%

Talents

• Heroism
  • Reworked to “Gain Crowd Control Immunity during Combat Slide”.
• Death Hastens
  • Adjusted camera shake to mirror base Magnum changes

Lex has been underperforming ever since Heroism was shifted in the Banners Fall Update to increase the cooldown substantially and Wicked Don't Rest was nerfed. Instead of retreading older ground, we decided to simplify and streamline this playstyle. Heroism now is back to being the CC-immune, on demand parry pick but with no resistance to damage. This also allows us to bring the cooldown back to normal values.

We also finally got to dig deeper into how Lex's recoil and camera works, reducing the amount of shake by 65%. We've left some in for feels and balance implications, but Magnums should now perform similarly to other fast rate of fire weapons in this department. Death Hastens also was finetuned to have recoil that matches stronger handguns like Androxus and Saati, while still having lower camera shake overall.

[h3]Mal’Damba[/h3]
Cards

• Pungent Gourd
  • Increased scaling from 5|5 ➡️ 8|8%

[h3]Nyx[/h3]
Cards

• Center of Combat
  • Reworked to “Royal Presence’s Poison now lingers on enemies for 0.8|0.8s”

Back with a vengeance, we’ve given Nyx players the ability to facilitate a Poisonn game plan with this card after removing the functionality at base. Its a cheeky card that lets you sneak in that extra % of Health that could turn a fight in your favor.

[h3]Omen[/h3]
Weapon

• Aphotic Reaver
  • Reduced number of shots to enter Anteumbra Mode from 2 ➡️ 1

Cards

• Everlasting Power
  • Reworked to “Whenever you mark an unmarked enemy with Ominous Brand, gain 8|8% Movement Speed for 3s.”
• More, More, More!
  • Reworked to “While at least 2 enemies are marked by Ominous Brand, heal for 60|60 every 1s.”
• Void Choke
  • Reworked to “Increase the lift height of Gravity Vice by 30|30%.”

Omen has been performing relatively well, and so we’ve taken the opportunity to shake up his kit and remove some frustration points when fighting against him. We’ve reduced the ramp time on his weapon to smooth out his game flow, but reworked some of his more problematic cards into mark-focused functionalities. These reworks encourage mark management in a way Omen never really had to do before, rewarding him with powerful effects if the uptime is kept high. This has long been a part of his kit players could ignore, and we’re excited to give Omen more varied playstyles.

[h3]Rei[/h3]
Passive
NEW: Mana Drain

• Hitting enemies with Sigil reduce the cooldown of your next Chain Heal by .4s. This effect stacks.

Abilities

• Spirit Link
  • Increased time to break from 2.25s ➡️ 3s
• Envelop
  • Removed damage done while close to enemies.
    
  • Increased Jump Height bonus from 50% ➡️ 75%

Talents

• Focus
  • Reduced Link duration from 4s ➡️ 3s.
    
  • Reduced cooldown from 7s ➡️ 6s

Cards